Believe
by Pinku Hime
Summary: Set during the Silver Millenium. Not everyone had a perfect life, even if it was a time of peace. Why did this young princess always feel so alone? Was she not truely cared for? Or was it somethign else?
1. Chapter 1

_I've written stories and short paragraphs for RPs before, but this is my first ever fanfic! I hope everyone will enjoy the story!_

"Look, there she is."

"Not really exciting is she?"

"She never even leaves the castle, it's no wonder no one knows anything about her."

A large crowed lined the city's streets, mumbling amongst themselves as they waited for royal family to pass. It was a rare event to see the entire family out in the city, and everyone had been curious to get just a glimpse of the secretive princess.

No one had ever met her in person, or so the stories went, the only people to have ever even laid eyes upon her were her own family and the palace servants. So you could imagine the commotion when the town heard that the princess would be attending the annual festival of moons, where their planet would become perfectly aligned with the small moons it drew its power from.

The planet itself was their life source, but it held no power to protect them. They did not even have their own Sailor Soldier to fight for them in the case they were ever in danger, and so this festival was the time that they felt the safest. Even with their many warriors and the senshi of their world's moons, they knew that they would hold no power compared that of the sailor crystals of the other planets.

Though most of the comments were drowned out by the crowd's cheers in welcoming their king and queen, the young princess could hear even the softest whispers about her. Her expression didn't change from the blank mask she wore, and she instead just turned her head away from the scenery before her that had commanded her attention the moment she'd left the castle, instead just staring at the short velvet curtains that she could easily close to block the outside world from her.

She couldn't do that, however, with her mother half hanging from the carriage itself as she greeted her subjects. Her father just laughing as she almost tumbled out and onto the ground, hanging on for dear life.

People always questioned how the young girl could be related to the couple whenever they met her, and she herself questioned it. More so because her parents acted more like children then she did. Their smiles never left their faces in public, and only she had ever seen them when they weren't in their company mode.

"She's quite boring," the whisper hit the princess's ears and she clenched her fists, wrinkling her dress in the process. Her mother noticed this, and having not heard a single thing being said about her daughter, just thought she was bored.

Leaning back into the carriage the queen sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched the princess for a few moments before speaking. "For once we try to do something as a family and this is how you're acting?" the woman stared at her coldly, her violet eyes, that she shared with her daughter, waiting blankly for a response.

"I told you she wouldn't enjoy herself," her father answered, though his happy expression had also faded as he pulled the curtains the girl had been staring at closed, so that their people would not see this side of them. The side of them that they hid from others, the side that was cold to their own daughter.

That was why she had never ventured far from the castle grounds, they had never wanted her to. Though she could never come to a conclusion on what she had ever done wrong to them, the princess knew this fact quite well. They would never visit her during her lessons, or when she was alone in her room, or the palace library where she sent most of her days. The only time she knew she would truly see them was the dinners they shared, and only then did they speak to her like loving parents, while others were watching.

Running a hand through his short black hair, the king watched the girl closely. "For once Manea, can't you just _act_ like you're enjoying yourself?" his blue eyes bore into her, as if he were trying to twist her soul into doing his bidding.

Though she was used to this kind of treatment, the princess still flinched when that expression hit her, and she clenched her fists tighter, her nails beginning to dig into the soft, pail flesh of her hands. Rather than answer, she simply nodded, moving her eyes to once again look at the curtains.

The couple smiled at her response, but it did not reach their eyes. "Such a good girl," her mother whispered, no love lacing her voice. It was just a comment she had made, as if she were speaking to a piece of furniture and not her own flesh and blood.

"My queen," a voice carried from the woman's side of the carriage, and she quickly regained her friendly mask as she brushed the curtain aside.

"Yes, Tethys?" she addressed the girl who stood outside of her side of the carriage, her aqua hair pulled up into a neat bun. Her dark blue eyes shone with admiration as she faced the queen, smiling as she held the edges of her fuku's skirt, curtseying in greeting. Her fuku was aqua in colour, in perfect unison with her hair, a small star shaped broach sat neatly against the bow on her chest. The tiara on her forehead sparkled with a magnificent aqua gem, and her heels clicked as she stepped forward to open the carriage door.

"We have arrived my queen," Sailor Tethys announced, waiting for the woman to step from the carriage

The door on the other side of the carriage opened soon after to reveal another girl standing there, her long pink hair tied into a braid. Her fuku was similar to her companion's, but hers was instead pink in colour. "My king," she greeted.

"It's nice to see you again Dione," the king smiled, taking her gloved hand as he exited the carriage, lightly placing a kiss upon it.

Sailor Dione's face flushed, and she shook her head lightly. "The pleasure is mine my king, I'm honoured you remember me," she stammered out. She had only met with the king once, at a banquet they had been invited to attend, and even then they had only spoken for a short time.

Manea rolled her eyes when she was sure no one was paying attention to her. Everyone thought her parents were heroes, and she had to admit in some aspects they were. They paid routine visits to the town, bringing gifts for the children and helping their subjects out. Though she only wished that they were able to see their true faces.

"I saw that," she heard a chuckling voice beside her, her eyes widening in surprise. "Hello princess," the woman smiled.

"Rhea," Manea nodded in greeting to the oldest and wisest senshi, a small smile lightly tugging at her lips. Her dark red hair fell loosely around her, a slight wave to it, reaching down to her lower back. Her dark red fuku was the same as the others, but she stood with much more dignity.

Sailor Rhea was Manea's favourite of the senshi that guarded her planet. As the oldest at 28 years of age, was much wiser than her friends, and understood much more. She knew of her king and queens secret sides, and she had figured it out just by spending a small time with the princess. She could tell a lot about a person by their mannerisms.

"Come now," the senshi smiled, taking the princess' hand and leading her from the carriage. "It is time to greet everyone."

Manea nodded and let the woman lead her from her seat and outside into the town. She could feel her heartbeat quicken as she came face-to-face with the large crowd that had followed their carriage, hundreds of eyes watching her every movement.

She took a deep breath to calm herself, and blocked the whispers of the people from her mind. Walking forward lightly, she focused on not tripping on the hem of her gown. Spotting the altar where their ritual would take place in just a few days she couldn't help but gasp.

The altar was made completely of white marble, flowers surrounding every corner, giving the area a sweet smell. Candles sat on and around the altar, even leading up the stairs as they waited to be lit. A purple banner sat in the middle of the altar, leaning over the edges and hanging inches from the ground, the planet's symbol decorating its edges.

"It's beautiful," Manea whispered as she came to a stop beside her parents.

Rhea smiled and nodded, before stepping forward and standing before the altar. She was soon joined by her teammates, and crowd around them quietened down. "Sailor Rhea, at your service," she fisted a hand over her heart and knelt before the royal family.

"Sailor Tethys, at your service," Tethys followed, mimicking Rhea.

Dione soon followed, introducing herself next. "Sailor Dione, at your service."

"Sailor Enceladus, at your service," another woman introduced herself, her bright red hair short and sticking out like fluff, fisting her hand over her bright red fuku.

"Sailor Iapetus, at your service," her light hair was pulled into two pigtails, and her fuku was a light blue.

Manea didn't recognise the next girl, and wondered if she was a new soldier. She had layered green hair and her fuku matched the colour exactly. "Sailor Epimentheus, at your service," she fisted her hand over her heart, kneeling like the others.

"Sailor Mimas, at your service," a girl with curly orange hair smiled, lightly straightening the skirt of her orange fuku before following the other's examples.

"Sailor Hyperion, at your service," the girl nodded, her blonde hair styled in a pixie cut, her fuku yellow in colour.

Finally, the last of the women stepped forward, her fuku was a dark purple, and her was straight and long. "Last but not least, Sailor Janus, at your service," she winked.

"It is a pleasure to see you all again, thank you for welcoming us," the queen held her arms out toward them as if inviting them in for a hug.

The king nodded in agreement, turning towards the crowed so that they would be included in the conversation. "Thank you everyone for being here today, even if today is just a simple blessing of the altar. We would like to introduce everyone to our daughter," he placed a light hand on the princess' back, pushing her forward softly so that all attention was drawn toward her.

Manea blushed, and wished for nothing more than to be able to run away. She knew if she did however, that she would regret it later. Instead she just stood there and waited for someone to speak.

"Everyone, meet our precious daughter Manea. Princess of Saturn and heir to the throne of Titan," her mother smiled as she called out the introduction. "Though she has never ventured far from the Titan Castle, she is glad to be able to join everyone for the celebrations this year," her mother began to fabricate an entire story of their 'happy family' and her daughter's excitement and Manea had to stop herself from speaking against it.

"I'm happy to meet everyone," she smiled instead.


	2. Chapter 2

After finally being freed from the judging gazes of the people, Manea slunk to the background while her parents commanded the attention of their subjects, greeting them and listening to their stories. No one seemed to notice that the princess had walked away from them, no one really cared. They had finally seen her, and like a child's toy, her novelty had soon worn off.

"Where is she?" the whisper caught Manea's attention, and she recognized the voice as Rhea's. Glancing around she spotted her planet's senshi grouped together, mumbled amongst themselves about something that seemed to have worried them.

Mimas shrugged. "I dunno, she was with me earlier," she commented, fixing her gloves so that they were no longer wrinkled. She had always been the most of a perfectionist compared to her friends.

"You were supposed to be watching her," Janus sighed, her eyebrows pulling together in frustration. "You know the second we look away she runs off. We're just lucky the king and queen didn't say anything about it."

"Maybe they just forgot about her," Tethys commented, lightly biting her bottom lip.

Dione rolled her eyes, her hands balling into fists as she raised her hands in to the air in disagreement. "No way! They couldn't just forget! The king is perfect!" she huffed.

"Not the queen?" Enceladus smirked.

The pinkette's face flushed and she nodded her head vigorously. "I-I was just about to mention her!" she mumbled, twiddling her fingers.

Curious, Manea approached them, and spotting the young princess, they all stood to attention and stopped their conversation immediately. Manea puffed her cheeks in annoyance, and crossed her arms. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing princess," Iapetus smiled, trying to reassure her, but she could tell something was worrying the group.

Looking at them closely, Manea noticed something that hadn't been brought to her attention when she had been in awe of the beautifully decorated altar. "Where is Phoebe?" she questioned, taking another look at the group and deciding that her hunch had been correct. Someone was missing.

"Phe-Pheobe?" the girl who had introduced herself as Sailor Epimentheus chucked nervously. "Why, she's around here somewhere... just taking a break is all," she grinned, her lip twitching lightly, a sign that she was lying.

"Why are you trying to hide it from me?" the princess responded blankly, not made that they were lying to her, but mad that they didn't trust her enough to tell her the truth. They probably thought she would get them in trouble.

She waited for a few moments, hoping that they would confess to her, but when she got no response she turned away. "Fine, if you don't wish to tell me..." she murmured, before walking away in the opposite direction.

"Princess..." Rhea sighed as she watched her walk away. They hadn't meant to hurt her feelings.

"Hey Rhea?" Hyperion nudged her companion, though her eyes did not move from the retreating princess. "She has no idea where she's going does she?" she commented, a moment before the realisation hit the eldest senshi.

Barely a second later she had taken off running after the girl, her hair flying around her as a sudden breeze rushed past. "Princess wait! We don't want you getting lost!" she called after her, looking the part of a doting mother completely.

The other senshi chuckled amongst themselves as they watched her. "I can't wait to see her with her own kids," Janus laughed.

"Maybe we should have a kid," Hyperion whispered flirtingly, wrapping her arms around Janus' neck and pulling her down to touch their lips lightly.

Janus laughed. "And how do you propose we go about doing that?"

"Ugh, get a room," Epimentheus fake gagged as she stuck out her tongue, cutting off the rest of the conversation. "Maybe we should, I don't know... focus on finding our missing member?" she huffed.

"Oh fine, fine," Hyperion pouted. "You're such a killjoy you know. You're only 15, act it!"

Manea could still hear them, not having hidden that far away. When she stalked off she had simply gone and sat behind one of the nearby bushes. A flower she couldn't name was booming throughout the bush, but she knew it was beautiful with its three purple petals that got lighter the closer they got to the centre of the flower, until they had become white.

She had watched Rhea run past her, and even if the senshi did look worried for her, she hadn't spoken up to draw her attention. She didn't know why she had done it, hid, or even walked away in the first place. She just wasn't too used to interacting with other people.

"Watcha doin'?" a voice beside Manea shocked her, and she jumped neatly aside to get away from the culprit.

"Who?" she took a deep breath, trying to calm her heart rate, before recognising the girl beside her. "Snow?"

"At your service," Sailor Phoebe mock bowed, her short white hair falling into her face. Her fuku was completely white in colour, and it had been what had inspired her nickname, Snow. "How are ya princess?"

Manea smiled and shook her head. "Where where you? You missed the orientation," she scolded. If Rhea was like her mother, than Phoebe took the place of her sister.

Phoebe grinned. "Yeah... but I got these, wanna share?" she held her arms out, revealing a whole bunch of sweets and treats.

The princess sighed and bowed her head in defeat, but her smile didn't leave her lips. "You're going to get in trouble you know?"

"Ehh, I can take whatever they dish out," the other shrugged, about to hand a box of sweets to Manea when a shout interrupted her.

"PHOEBE!" an angry Sailor Enceladus stood there, her hands on her hips. "You know you were supposed to come and get one of these from me before we even got here!" she huffed, holding up a small badge in the shape of a white wing.

Tethys sighed. "And?"

"And...?" Enceladus thought for a moment, not sure what her companion was talking about, she was just mad that the other had promised to be there on time, and then made her carry around the stinking badge all day. She already had her own.

"Uhmm..." Phoebe placed a finger over her lips, trying to think of an excuse. "I couldn't see where I was going and got lost?" she tried, putting on her best 'ditz' face as she cocked her head to the side.

Enceladus clenched her fist, shaking it in the air in Phoebe's direction. "Aw, hell no! Don't even try to use that blind excuse! We know better than anyone you can see better than the rest of us can!" she growled.

"Worth a shot?" the blind senshi shrugged. Though even if she was blind, it had never been a hindrance to her, she was able to 'see' just as clearly as the rest of them.

Enceladus looked about ready to pounce on her friend, so Manea quickly stood and blocked her way. "I asked Sno- Sailor Phoebe to run an errand for me, so please don't be mad at her," she shook her head, trying to calm the other down. "The reason why I asked where she was before, was because I was wondering if she had returned."

"Is that so princess?" she felt a light hand on her shoulder, and glanced up to meet the warm eyes of Sailor Rhea. "I guess she has an excuse for not attending the orientation then," she smiled. Manea knew that she could tell she was lying, but Rhea had never really been the type to betray another's story unless it would cause harm to someone else.

"Thank you Rhea!" the princess smiled, but her good mood was cut short when she saw a familiar pair coming towards them.

The king and queen stood not far from her, holding their arms out for her to join them. "Manea darling, come, greet your subjects," her mother smiled, crossing the few steps between them to place her arms around her daughter's shoulder. "You can't stay hidden forever," she chuckled, kissing the girl's cheek, before leading her back towards the crowd.

Manea knew this was all an act, but she allowed herself to be led away from her friends anyway. "Tonight," her father spoke, and Manea noticed that Sailor Dione stood at his side as if she were pulled toward him by some invisible force. "Tonight it will be your turn to perform the blessing," he lightly placed a hand on his daughter's head, ruffling her short black hair.

"But I don't..." Manea began to argue. She had never even seen the blessing before, how was she supposed to know what to do?

"It will come to you," Rhea whispered in her ear, though she did little to calm her worry.

Instead of pulling the other's into her worrying state however, she just simply nodded and watched as they begun to light the candles around the altar. 


End file.
